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Esperanza Aguirre, President of the Madrid Region, announced this morning that the El Alto factory (Morata de Tajuña) owned by Cementos Portland Valderrivas is a candidate for a European Excellence Award, to be presented on 25 June. Aguirre stated that the factory "is an outstanding example of the combination of productivity and respect for the environment".

The announcement was made during Aguirre's visit to the Cementos Portland Valderrivas factory. She was accompanied by the Regional Minister for Economy and Finance, Antonio Beteta; Regional Minister for Housing and Land Planning, Ana Isabel Mariño; Mayor of Morata de Tajuña, Valentín Mariano Franco; CEO of CPV, Dieter Kiefer; a number of Board members, including Esther Alcocer Koplowitz, Alicia Alcocer Koplowitz, Rafael Montes and José Ignacio Martínez-Ynzenga; and senior executives, such as Environment, Technology and Innovation Corporate Director, José Ignacio Elorrieta; Planning and Management Control Corporate Director reporting to the Chairman, José Manuel Revuelta; and factory director, Ramón Lago.

Senior executives of the cement company showed Aguirre the latest technology in plant operation and presented the Portland Valderrivas sustainability policy, which is based on commitment to protection and conservation of the environment. That policy is behind the company's candidacy for a European Excellence Award, which will be presented as part of European Week in the Madrid region.

Aguirre's tour of the facilities included the kiln area, control room and quality labs. The CPV executives provided Aguirre with a detailed explanation of how the factory works, advances in the development of new types of cement, and the use of alternative fuels, which enables the company to save energy and reduce CO2 emissions.

She was also briefed on the company's strategies to mitigate the effects of the crisis on the cement industry, which include intensifying research of new cements with greater added value and expansion into new markets. To this end, in recent months the R&D and Innovation Department has developed specialised cements for market segments with more specific requirements, greater added value and export potential.

Valentín Mariano Franco, Mayor of Morata, underlined the factory's importance for the city and the company's commitment to the environment. According to the Mayor, El Alto accounts for 25% of the municipality's revenues.

Commitment to the environment

Cementos Portland Valderrivas' El Alto factory, which spans 60 hectares, has been operational since 1972, when it commenced production of cement using the dry process. El Alto currently has three cement production lines: two grey (each producing 3,500 tonnes/day) and one white (1,000 tonnes/day), making it the largest cement factory in Spain.

El Alto produces nine types of cement: six grey and three white, all of which have N certification from AENOR. Total cement sales in 2009 exceeded 1.4 million tonnes, for which 1.6 million tonnes of limestone and 96,000 tonnes of clay were extracted from the quarry.

The El Alto facilities are monitored by an Environmental Management System which oversees the environmental aspects of production. The factory also has the EMAS environmental excellence logo.

President Aguirre highlighted that, in 2004, Cementos Portland Valderrivas was the first industrial company to provide a real-time environmental metric feed to the Madrid regional government.